In our increasingly crowded world, it has become more and more critical to proceed with caution in terms of potentially environmentally hazardous materials. This is particularly true in the plating industry, where many, if not most, of the metals and chemicals used are potential health hazards. Moreover, it has become increasingly costly to simply dispose of such materials, when in at least some cases they may be recycled to salvage at least some of the costly metals and chemicals. In the plating industry, it is necessary to remove metallic acid waste residue from other solutions: this is commonly done by means of a long chain molecular structure "neat" polymer (i.e., a polymer material providing an electrostatic attraction to metallic ions in solution).
In order to achieve maximum efficiency, the relatively viscous polymer must be thinned in some manner, in order to provide a maximum polymer surface area for the attraction of the metallic ions. Water is often used for this purpose. However, heretofore the water-polymer mixing devices have been relatively complex, costly, and have had less than perfect reliability, resulting in down time for the process and relatively costly repairs.
The need arises for a water--polymer mixing chamber which may be installed in line between a water inlet and a mixed polymer outlet line. The device must provide for thorough mixing of the two substances, and must resist chemical or other deterioration. For utmost simplicity and reliability, the device must include no moving parts, and must be relatively economical to purchase, install, use, maintain, and replace. Finally, the device must be adaptable for use in the mixing of other fluids than water and polymer.